Marcy Winograd on Harman’s Resignation and a Possible Run

When I heard the news that Jane Harman was resigning, I thought, ‘Now we finally have an opportunity to send a progressive to Congress, someone who will work to create jobs in the new economy, to free the 36th District from its perpetual war footing.’

I was at school, in between TEACHING classes, checking my cell phone messages from news editors, bloggers, and former campaign supporters, all asking the same question …

‘Will you run again?’

‘I am exploring the possibility,’ I told them, adding that I live in Santa Monica now, less than a mile outside of the district that hugs the coast from Venice to San Pedro. In 2010, just months ago, the Winograd for Congress campaign mobilized 41% of the vote in a primary challenge to Harman. It was exhilarating, daunting, inspiring, and eye-opening as I precinct walked from one end of the district to the other.

Most of the support came from the northern end of the district, from Venice and Mar Vista, but we enjoyed significant inroads in the working class union strongholds of Wilmington and San Pedro.

I barely had time to digest the political possibilities before running back to class, to my South LA high school students, some of them dressed in military fatigues, where we would read Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic’s essay, “Breaking the Silence of the Night,’ a passionate account of Kovic’s transformation from blind follower to critical thinker and anti-war leader.

My high school students knew nothing of the buzz in the blogosphere, only that their teacher seemed a little preoccupied.

I had just hung up with LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who told me she was running, making a courtesy call – perhaps hoping to clear the field – and asking for an endorsement. I told her I had two concerns – that we needed a voice that would challenge pre-emptive wars, regardless of whether the wars were waged by Republicans or Democrats, and that we needed a Congress person who would advocate for a just and lasting peace in the middle east, someone who would not be afraid to criticize Israel, to fight for equal rights for both Palestinians and Jews. It was time for the United States to be an honest broker at the negotiating table. World stability depends on it.

After reminding me she had supported anti-war efforts on the Los Angeles City Council, Hahn added, “I want to make it clear. I am a friend to Israel.”

I am a friend to equality and dignity for all.

I asked Hahn if she would be willing to meet with a group of Jews and Palestinians offering an alternative viewpoint to current US foreign policy.

Yes, she would.

A few hours later news broke that Secretary of State Debra Bowen was also running. Not surprising, since Bowen will term out of office soon. I know Debra and admire her courage in taking on the electronic voting industry, in banning touch-screen voting machines. Would she also be ready to take on the military budget? To demand that Washington stop holding our young engineers hostage to bomb-building – and award contracts, instead, to corporations intent on developing mass transit, high speed rail, and solar cities?

I haven’t had a chance to speak with Debra Bowen – but when I do I will ask her the tough questions, starting with …

“Will you vote against further military appropriations for expanded wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen?”

“Will you go to the wall to defend Social Security and Medicare, our greatest safety nets?”

“Will you visit Bradley Manning in solitary confinement?”

“Will you walk the streets of Wilmington with me, breathe the oil fumes, and work to crack down on polluters?”

Marcy Winograd

“Will you support the right of states to pursue single-payer health care?”

I am waiting to ask the tough questions – and to hear courageous answers.

Then I will decide.

Marcy Winograd

Note: Californians recently passed an Open Primary law, meaning that if no candidate wins 50% plus one vote in the Special Election, the top two vote getters go head-to-head in the next round. Had the Open Primary law been in effect when Winograd challenged Harman in 2010, the two would have faced off against each other in the General Election, as well. Given the small turn-out in special elections, 35,000 of the 300,000 registered voters may decide who replaces Jane Harman. In June, 2010, Winograd received 18,000 votes.

Posted on February 8, 2011

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LA Progressive, its publisher, editor or any of its other contributors.

About Marcy Winograd

Marcy Winograd is a blogger, activist, and public school teacher in Los Angeles. You can follow her on twitter: marcywinograd

I agree that Debra Bowen would be the best choice, due to her hard work and experience. Also, I have not heard anything negative about her record. She has the best chance of winning and we cannot afford to send one more Republican to Congress! I thank Ms. Winograd for being a strong advocate for peace and social justice. I do feel, however, that we have to support the candidate most qualified and electable — there is too much at stake.

Winograd should stay out of it. She is the worst possible person to run for anything. Her positions on Middle East are about the same as Ron Paul. The Democratic Party will will be split apart if you make another appearance. Janice Hahn is a great candidate with broad support. Debra Bowen has returned us to the dark ages with her changes in voting with California having a multitude of problems counting votes not to mention ballot stealing and the rest. You would think the voters would have sent Winograd a message. She obviously has failed to hear it twice. Let’s hope she goes on teaching. If Winograd somehow gets to run in the fall, she will be defeated once again, perhaps by a Republican. People forget this seat was held by the Republicans before Harman won it.

The announcement of Rep.Jane Harmon’s decision to resign caught everyone off-guard but it does leave an opportunity for “effective” leadership in the House of Representatives. The “early” announcements by those who covet the seat from “termed-out” current office holders to “utopian” idealistic unrealist is not surprising. What is surprising is the gall of some of the early announced candidates, one in particular is Councilwoman Janice Hahn. With the City of Los Angeles in a “budgetary nightmare”, with city services cut to the “bone-marrow”, and “over-the-top” city pension-plans I wonder what platform is Ms.Hahns going to run on? Its one thing to “inherit” this nightmare, its another to have contributed to it. When asked by Marcy Winograd about her concerns for the “kind” of representative she desired, Ms. Hahn replied in my estimation ambiguously in reference to a “just and lasting peace in the middle-east” and not being “afraid to criticize Isreal”. Her response was a “I’m a friend of Isreal” translated as “business-as-usual” when it comes to Ameican foreign policy in the middle-east. Janice Hanh’s track record with the SEIU and other unions in Los Angeles is evident by the financial mess we find ourselves in because of their “unwillingness” to “cut back” on pensions, salaries, etc. for the greater good of “all” Angelenos. If Ms. Hahn can’t stand-up against the “local unions” in Los Angeles, what chance do you think she has against the powerful AIPAC lobby and other interest groups? I respect Marcy Winograd’s “wait and see” approach, but at the end of the day, in order for the 36th congressional district to have “strong, no non-sense” leadership Ms. Winograd will have to “toss” her hat back into this ring!

Harman was a perennial sponsor of the Torture-Anyone-Who-Sticks-A-Flag-Stamp-Upside-Down Amendment that almost got the 2/3 Senate vote that is the best safeguard of the Constitution we have, especially with the Koch Brothers’ SCOTUS. She voted for the Bush Crusade and just about every weapons system the local defense contractors could think of. Both Bowen and Winograd would be far better choices, if elected.

I favor Bowen for three reasons: 1) She has been superior for every office she has held, and she now has more experience; 2) She is more likely to win against a “moderate” Repugnican; 3) Few politicians are personally so Internet-savvy, a useful skill for an election campaign and for countering Repugnican disinformation campaigns.

I look forward to hearing out both candidates on civil liberties and economics issues. Anyone who yearns to lead from the center and trust in a diety is disqualified.

I will run as a Peace & Freedom Party candidate in the 36th District. I already have a pending tort claim against the State of California and County of Los Angeles for denying me a legitimate opportunity to waive the filing fees for a race for the 28th Senate District, in violation of Lubin vs Panish, a 9-0 Supreme Court decision. In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court held that California and Los Angeles County violated the constitutional rights of candidates in that case and because of the way the state is implementing Proposition 14, it is once again in direct violation of that decision.

California has already rejected my tort claim with the absurd contention that the Secretary of State’s office is not a state agency. When Los Angeles County (as I expect it will) rejects my damage claim, I and Carl Iannalfo (17th State Senate District) will be filing suit to vindicate the rights of working people to run without paying exorbitant filing fees.

If elected to the House of Representatives, I would:

1. Introduce legislation to mitigate the Supreme Court’s decision in Hoffman Plastics vs NLRB so that undocumented immigrants could receive damages for violation of their right to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act;

2. Introduce a congressional resolution urging the administration to invoke Article XXI of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for a joint commission and/or neutral arbitration to resolve issues surrounding immigration, violations of the rights of Mexican nationals and their descendants, Native American tribes, and other controversies instead of unilateral American (EEUU) legislation on “immigration reform;”

3. Introduce legislation to make the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, consular notification and access provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and CEDAW self executing in American courts;

4. Introduce legislation to restrict Bureau of Justice Assistance grants for states who (a) do not have a licensing and regulatory system for Private Investigators, (b) do not allow access to databases such as voter registration and DMV information to criminal defense investigators and investigators attempting to locate people for the service of process (such as Orders to Show Cause re non-payment of child support), and (c) which do not enact minimal standards for mandatory continuing education for licensed investigators.

Progressive Issues

Rosemary Joyce: Archaeology has a checkered history of exploitation by totalitarian regimes. Treating the question of what materials from the past should be preserved, studied, and thus valorized, as politically neutral is part of the reason for that history.